


Predator and Prey

by AngeliaDark



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Aphrodisiac Bite, Canon-Typical Violence, Dominant Angel Dust, M/M, Power Play, Smut, Submissive Alastor, Violent Sex, dubcon, hotel shenanigans, radiodust - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:41:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21572380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeliaDark/pseuds/AngeliaDark
Summary: Every couple of years, Angel Dust goes through a change that makes him a lot less tolerable to be around, for many more reasons than one.  The staff of the Hotel are about to learn that the hard way, none more so than Alastor.
Relationships: Alastor/Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel)
Comments: 122
Kudos: 1400





	1. Chapter 1

Charlie threw open a window and inhaled deeply before beaming. "Finally!" she chirped. "Spring!"

"CLOSE THE FUCKIN' WINDOW!" Husk shouted from around the corner, his wings still curled around his puffier-looking furred body. "It's still cold as shit outside!"

Vaggie kicked the side of his bar. "Drink another toddy and shut up," she groused, though she adjusted her own coat around her body. "Hon, let's wait until the ice actually melts before we celebrate, okay?"

Charlie blushed, closing the window with a sheepish look. "Sorry," she said, glancing back outside where reddish ice was still gleaming under the blood pentagram moon. "But you definitely saw that spring is coming, right?"

"Yeah, I did," Vaggie said with a small smile. "But it's still really cold out and there's only so much hellfire can do to warm the place up without burning everything down." 

That was true, Charlie thought. Hell aside, 'freezing over' was still a yearly phenomenon that naturally caused more hassle than wanted for Hell's denizens, mostly because 'Hell freezing over' was taken quite literally. Only the hardiest of demons were able to go outside during that time, albeit the short time it was. Three whole weeks of a massive freeze had few willing to leave their homes, making Pentagram City almost quiet for the most part.

Naturally, a good number of demons were subjected to freezing outside and having to wait to thaw and re-gen themselves which was a painful process in and of itself. Others faced starvation, and the week before a hint of freeze was hectic in gathering supplies and securing a safe place to wait it out.

On the bright side, Charlie managed to drum up some business from demons who swallowed their pride and checked into the Hotel if just for a roof over their heads. Most were still cocooned in their rooms to wait for the ice to break, while one or two roamed around to expend their cabin fever energy or to grab a drink from Husk.

One thing Vaggie said she was grateful for was that Angel Dust had locked himself into his fur-and-plush-stuffed bedroom and hide nor hair had been seen of him since. It was only Alastor's insistence that he could hear the spider breathing every so often that gave Charlie any peace of mind for that. 

Alastor himself provided a good bit of amusement by wearing a ridiculously thick and oversized fur coat around the place while otherwise looking unaffected and trying to lift a few spirits by chiming out cheesy Christmas carols through his radio aura until Husk threatened to go absolutely feral.

Husk was in a mood because his 'winter coat' came in while his wings were stiff and almost useless, and Charlie found herself barely able to resist petting him. He had sustained himself on Irish coffees and hot toddies all 'winter' which worsened his mood even more.

Niffty was nothing more than a small ball of furs and scarves scurrying about to make sure the shut-in Hotel didn't collect too much dust as well as make sure no one was frozen in their rooms.

Charlie was mostly unaffected, being both Hellborn and daughter of Lucifer, so any supply runs that needed to be had, she did the running for. She just needed to make a last run later today to get food for everyone for when they poked out of the rooms.

"Anyone need anything specific?" she asked, grabbing her coat to put on.

"I'm good, Charlie."

"I need bleach!"

"More whiskey."

Charlie nodded, writing down Niffty and Husk's requests. "You think Angel will need anything?"

"Nothing but lube as far as I know," Vaggie muttered. 

"Not getting that. Al?"

"Nothing at all!"

"Great, I'll -" Charlie jumped when the front desk phone rang next to her, startling considering it hadn't been touched since winter started. She picked it up, putting on her chipper voice. "Happy Hotel front desk, this is Charlie Magne!"

"Oh wonderful, you," came a drawling voice. "Whatever, is Angel Dust there, he's not answering his phone."

Charlie frowned, looking at the receiver in her hand before answering. "You know, it's rude to not introduce yourself when calling someone else."

"Oh well excuse me, Princess, we didn't all go to finishing school. It's Valentino."

Charlie scowled, feeling a bristle of brimstone on her fingertips. "He's indisposed at the moment," she bit out. "So he'll call back when he wants."

She heard him groan on the other end, like he was physically pained in holding back from saying what he was REALLY wanting to. "Look bi...PRINCESS...you just tell him as soon as he can walk outside without freezing solid, get his ass to the Studio -"

"No YOU look, Val!" Charlie snapped, getting the attention of everyone else close by. "I don't give a damn about who you are or what you do, but while Angel Dust is under this roof, you have no jurisdiction over his actions! If he wants to go, he'll go! Don't call again or I'll set your number to drop a donation to the Hotel every time you call, got it!?"

There was a brief silence on the other end before Valentino let out a sharp 'tch'. "Fine, bitch, you deal with him," he said. "And don't call me with your problems either, or I'll set YOUR number as link to our sex line!" There was a beep and then dial tone.

Charlie growled, putting the receiver back on the phone hard. "UGH, that jerk!" she spat, then noticed her audience. ".....it was no one."

Vaggie smiled, putting a scarf around Charlie's neck. "You go, girl," she said, kissing Charlie's cheek. "Don't take too long now, okay?"

Charlie nodded and headed out to the nearest store, only minimally concerned with the weird warning that Valentino had given her.

Meh, it probably wasn't anything important.


	2. Chapter 2

In hindsight, Charlie figured she should have at least asked a question or two while she still had Valentino's threat fresh on her mind.

Two days after the first hint of spring, the ice broke and the demons that stayed over began venturing out of their shelters to get something to eat, stretch their legs, or bolt out of the Hotel so as to not have to be subjected to another of Charlie's panels about rehabilitation.

Those that did stay decided that maybe the rehab spiel was worth it for a couple extra nights, and had minimal complaints about the upcoming meeting.

It was busy enough in the lobby for the stragglers that Charlie barely noticed Angel Dust coming downstairs until the fly demon she was talking to suddenly stammered some excuse about needing to check on the stove he left on all winter and bolted out of the Hotel. She frowned, looking around to find the source of his sudden panic, and her eyes immediately fell on the pink form of Angel Dust stalking into the cafeteria area.

She excused herself from the lobby and followed, peering around the corner seeing Angel getting himself some coffee with a couple of other demons in the room either staring at him or actively REFUSING to look his direction. Angel himself was disregarding anyone else in the room in lieu of getting caffeinated and fed.

"It's not just me, right?" Vaggie piped up next to her, squinting a little. "...he looks different."

Come to think of it, Charlie thought, he did. 

Angel's pink patterns on his fur were a more vivid shade of pink, and he looked a lot fluffier than he usually did, and not just in the chest area. She swore he was taller too, by at least another foot.

"...it's not just you," Charlie murmured. "...he's also acting weird. He hasn't said a word to anyone."

"Small mercies," Vaggie replied, frowning. "Let's hope it stays that way."

"Vaggie!"

"Keeps his distance too. I don't like the way he smells either."

Charlie blinked, sniffing the air. "...I don't smell anything."

"How can you NOT, it smells like he hasn't bathed since winter started mixed with liquid sugar."

"...uh huh." Charlie watched as Angel drank his coffee black -another oddity considering he preferred only a little coffee with his cream and sugar. 

This was concerning, she thought; she'd have to keep an eye on this.

It didn't get any better later.

Even with coffee in his system, Angel Dust was in a Mood **™** all day, sitting back by himself to look at everyone and everything around him as though waiting for something. The other demons in the Hotel seemed to sense this mood, and by the end of the day, the majority of those who had decided to stay abruptly left.

What was more, Vaggie was refusing to go into the room he was in, even for food, and wouldn't -couldn't- say why. The only one with too few shits to give about it were Husk and Niffty, the former because he needed his mixers and the latter to clean up. Charlie made the third, considering she was more concerned than wary of what was going on, walking over and giving him her usual cheery smile.

"How are you feeling today?" she asked, trying to keep the pep up. Angel stared at her, and she noticed that the six small eyes below his two normal ones were black like his left eye. 

"Fuckin' peachy," he replied, looking around. "Hungry as shit though, who's cookin'?"

Charlie sighed, at least happy his tone was at least familiar. "I got some food earlier," she replied. "Anything you'd like?"

Angel looked far less than thrilled at having nothing readily available. "Anything," he said, pushing back from his chair and stalking into the kitchen. Charlie sighed after him, turning to Niffty. 

"...you think he's cranky because of winter?" she asked.

"I think he's just cranky in general because his room is a filthy mess," Niffty replied, scurrying up to do some tidying before Angel could go up to stop her. 

Husk rolled his eyes, fixing himself a drink. "He's bein' pissy because he hasn't been out to get laid all winter," he stated. "Kinda obvious, Princess."

Charlie blushed a little. "Oh," she said, feeling dumb for having not realized that little detail sooner. "W...well, I can't fault him for that, I guess..."

"Just let him fuck and get it out of his system," Husk replied, wrinkling his muzzle. "Anything t' get that gross smell of his out of the damn Hotel."

"Seriously, what smell, I don't smell anything..." she muttered, going to see what needed to be done before spring was in full effect.

Oddities piled up when Charlie saw that the sugary things Angel generally preferred had remained untouched while the bulk of the meat was missing. That made dinner a little more dicey to plan out.

And what was more, Angel Dust hadn't bothered her at all about leaving the Hotel to go out and stretch his legs, visit friends, get laid; nothing. Instead the spider was skulking around the Hotel without any real aim, which made the few lingering guests plus the staff a more than a little on edge. 

Vaggie was running out of places besides her bedroom to not be in, complaining to Charlie that she couldn't stand being in the same room as him (even when he wasn't in the same room). Husk's fur and wings were ruffled at almost all times, sticking behind his bar like it was his last line of defense against something. Alastor was just unseen, with Niffty making mention he was out checking on his own territory.

Charlie wasn't getting any real answers out of anyone, and it was starting to really bug her. But at least she was in her right mind to do her job, and made rounds to the remaining patrons to gauge their needs and set up a point where they could go down and eat something without 'the spider' there to 'threaten' them.

She headed down to the cafeteria/bar to get some hot drinks for everyone, just in time to witness something startling.

Angel was at the bar, grabbing his own bottle of alcohol since Husk was on the other end attempting to ignore him. Husk glowered at him before stalking over to grab it back.

"Hands off th' fuckin' merch, pest!"

By Charlie's experience, Angel would usually preen and attempt to play coy just to get the bottle back from Husk by annoying him enough. 

This time, however, Angel jerked his hand out of Husk's reach and SNARLED at him. "Don't TOUCH me!" Angel hissed, looming to his full height and making Husk bristle and hiss back, looking like both a pissed-off cat and owl.

"Whoa whoa!" Charlie yelped, hurrying up. "Hey, calm down, both of you!"

"FUCK off, Princess!" Angel snapped, not taking his eyes off of Husk, whose hackles raised like he was prepared to pounce. Angel hissed again, sprouting his third pair of arms and baring his teeth; Charlie could see that his eyeteeth were longer now and almost stained soft pink.

"Nope, no, NOT happening!" Charlie snapped back, smacking her hand on the bar hard, going serious. "I don't know what is going on here, but I'm not gonna have you two having a brawl in the Hotel! Whatever it is, cool your jets and come back to it later, you got it!?"

The two kept up their stalemate for several more moments before Husk growled, folding his wings back and sending Angel an ugly look. "Just get th' fuck outta my bar," he growled. Angel let out a sharp 'tch' that sent a droplet of venom on the bar, grabbing the bottle he took and cracking it open as he put his third pair of arms away. 

"Get fucked, cat," Angel hissed back, taking a hard swig as he stalked out.

Charlie let out a heavy sigh, running a hand over her face before turning to Husk to demand an answer, but her question caught in her throat as she took a closer look at him. 

His fur was still ruffled, pupils slit, and ears folded back, but worst of all, she could see his hands shaking softly as he put the glasses around the counter away.

Questions would have to wait until he calmed down, she thought, sitting back at a table as she pondered over what was going on and how she could bring an end to it.


	3. Chapter 3

Angel Dust wasn't seen again for another two days. 

Charlie at least knew he was in his room from the rummaging around going on in there, like he was rearranging every piece of furniture several times over to his liking. She let him be, figuring if he was going to be ancy about whatever, he might as well blow some steam off with a few manual chores. 

His entire floor was completely clear of anyone else besides her and Niffty, she came to realize later. Two others who had been on his floor had moved rooms without informing her, only citing that the smell was making them nervous. Again, she could smell nothing out of the ordinary, but she allowed it just to keep the peace.

Husk wasn't bothered about his near-brawl with Angel; Charlie figured he wouldn't want to talk about it, and she didn't want to push the issue. She was close to start demanding answers, however, when Niffty informed her that one of the guests that was on another floor was gone with his belongings still set up in his room.

"ANGEL, OPEN THE DOOR!" Charlie shouted, banging her fist on Angel's door after four texts and three calls went unanswered. Vaggie was on standby for support, regardless of how much she looked like she'd rather be literally anyplace else. There were two more door-bangings before they heard the door unlock and Angel open it just enough to be seen.

"The fuck do you WANT?" he snapped, looking even more moody than before, if not more so considering his just-out-of-bed hair and fur and lack of makeup. 

Charlie sighed, rubbing her temples. "It's not just you, Angel," she said. "We've got the hotel altogether on alert because we're missing a patron."

"Not my problem," Angel replied, moving to close the door but having it blocked back open by Vaggie.

"Can you stop being a dick for five minutes and help us before you go back to being a huge bitch!?" Vaggie snapped. "Five fucking minutes, you overgrown pest -" She yelped when Angel had the door swung open and looming over her in an instant, teeth bared almost hungrily.

"You gonna MAKE me do anything, MOTH?" he hissed, and Charlie could see what little color Vaggie had left drain entirely, her whole body trembling hard. Angel stared her down for several more moments before sneering at her. "That's what I thought." He took a step back into his doorway. "Bang on my door again and I'll give you somethin' to scream about." He slammed the door shut on them, sending the hallway to silence after it stopped echoing.

Charlie looked at Vaggie, seeing absolute terror on the other's face, and hesitantly reached out to touch her shoulder when Vaggie took off running down the hall. "Vaggie!" She stared after her girlfriend before looking back at Angel's door with a worried look.

She had to call Alastor.

Alastor wasn't able to come back for another day, having called in saying the hard freeze had shifted the tower rungs and he had to repair them. He came back to a now-empty and somber Hotel, where Husk and Vaggie looked like they were on high alert for an attack, Charlie fretting about the lack of patrons and the missing one, and Niffty now in a tizzy because Angel wasn't letting her in his room to clean at ALL.

"What all did I miss, gone for three days?" Alastor asked, looking around the place.

"Too damn much," Charlie bemoaned, running a hand down her face. "I don't even know, Al! Angel's acting super weird which is making everyone else super weird, most of the other patrons left, and one's gone missing!" She gesticulated at everything. "Help!"

Alastor gave her an amused look, patting her head. "Never you fear, my dear," he replied. "We'll figure this out. It's probably nothing at..." He paused, sniffing the air, his nose crinkling. "...what IS that smell?"

"WHAT smell!?" Charlie cried. "SERIOUSLY!?" She wondered if everyone was under some sort of weird demonic plague and debated making a call to her father when the door to the bar opened and Angel Dust stalked in, silencing everyone who'd had to deal with him the past few days.

 _'Did he get bigger again?'_ Charlie thought, almost feeling a little intimidated by this point. Angel's fur had grown again, making him appear bigger than usual, the white fur having darkened to a grey while the markings were almost magenta. It looked as though his usual clothes wouldn't fit him because of the excess fur, so all he was wearing was a pair of loose black harem pants and a silk robe thrown on last minute, looking even more irritable than before. It was emphasized with the fact that he had again foregone makeup and what looked like zero grooming on his part for the day.

Vaggie made herself scarce back in a corner while Husk's fur stood on end, eyes trained on Angel like he was poised to attack if there was one wrong move. Charlie sighed, turning to Alastor to ask for his help. "Al -" Her question died when she got a better look at him.

Alastor's eyes were wide, his smile frozen on his face while the earlike tufts of his hair looked more pointed, giving him the look of an alert deer. 

Well, MORE of a deer. The slight nose-twitching wasn't helping.

Angel ignored them, going into the kitchen to rummage around before coming back out with uncooked beef and raw eggs, biting into a shell and sucking out the insides before sitting at the bar, his eyes daring Husk to say anything.

Husk made a low sound in the back of his throat like a pissed-off cat but did nothing but glare as Angel devoured his meal, not caring about eggshell or meat drippings on his fur. At very least that brought Alastor out of whatever mindset he'd been in as he whipped out a kerchief and handed it to Angel. 

"You've got a little something there, Angel Dust," he said teasingly. "Had a rough winter, then?"

Angel stared at him as he bit into a piece of raw beef shank, tearing out a chunk and chewing like he was making a point and making no move to take the kerchief from Alastor. After an uncomfortably long amount of time spent chewing, he swallowed his bite.

And then spit on Alastor's kerchief.

"Fuck off before you're next, deer."

Trepidation of Angel was put aside in lieu of shock of the spider's audacity from everyone else. Charlie actually had her hands over her mouth, eyes flicking between the two while Vaggie was muttering a heartfelt 'holy shit' from her corner. Niffty was absent, rushing up to tidy Angel's room, and Husk looked equal parts torn between horrified and awed by Angel's fearless disrespect.

Alastor lowered his eyes to the blood-spittled kerchief, his lip curling in a displeased smile. "...that was very much uncalled-for," he stated slowly. 

"Noted," Angel replied. "Now ask me if I give a fuck." He turned back to his meal, biting into the shank again. "Cat, get me a whiskey."

Husk's demeanor tanked again, growling as he weighed his options and decided that between Angel raising his hackles and Alastor possibly sending the Hotel into an eldritch dimension if he tipped that jenga tower, decided on grabbing a bottle of whiskey and sliding it down the bar to avoid getting within arm's reach of the spider.

Angel grabbed the bottle and took a few hard swigs before standing up, his size easily dwarfing Alastor as he shouldered past roughly, only to be shoved back by Alastor's microphone.

"Five-foot rule, Angel Dust," Alastor intoned, his voice teetering on testy. "Especially when you obviously haven't bathed yourself in three months. You smell disgusting."

Angel's eyes flicked to the offending microphone, all eight of the narrowing. "...you've got five seconds t' get that away from me before I snap it in two like a twig."

Alastor withdrew it, albeit with more of an air of not wanting to sully it with Angel's fur, daintily brushing it off. "And I would give you an hour to get yourself presentable before you put the rest of us in a coma with that horrific scent you're giving off."

"Seriously, what the heaven are you guys smelling?" Charlie muttered from her side of the room.

"You gonna make me, Smiles?" Angel asked, baring his teeth. 

"I just might. It would be for the betterment of the Hotel as a whole if you were less offensive in every conceivable way."

Charlie, Vaggie, and Husk glanced among one another at the verbal sparring the two were having, both flexing their own auras in a subtle way that almost felt physical in the air around them. They honestly couldn't tell who they wanted to win the match, neither opponent being a favorable victor in mind.

Niffty bustling in broke the stalemate a bit, the small demon giving Angel an annoyed glare. "The very least you can do is clean up after you eat someone, you messy bessy!" she chided. "Your room absolutely REEKS!"

Charlie's eyes widened, staring at Angel as the missing patron case came to an unfavorable close. "ANGEL!"

Angel glowered, unrepentant as he downed half of the whiskey bottle in one go. "Whatever, he was disgusting anyway."

"NOT the point!" Charlie pulled at her hair, at her wit's end with Angel's behavior throwing the entire Hotel out of whack. "SERIOUSLY, Angel, what the hell is wrong with you!?"

Angel growled, his fur standing on end. "What's WRONG is that I can't find a goddamn decent meal in this whole fuckin' place!" he snapped, glowering at her. "Nothin' tastes right, I haven't had a good fuck in MONTHS, and now the whole fuckin' place smells like venison and it makes me wanna tear somethin' to pieces!" He turned back to Alastor hissing. "So do me a favor an' fuck off back to your shitty tower."

Alastor looked borderline ready to make Hell freeze over again by dropping his smile, his hands clenching around his microphone stand. "I may do that," he replied, "if anything to be somewhere with a less...offensive attitude." He glanced at Charlie. "You and the others are more than free to join me." He kept his eye on Angel as he headed for the door.

"Al, come on, don't leave!" Charlie pleaded as Angel let out a snort.

"Let th' little prey scamper on home if he wants to, Princess."

Everyone swore they heard a record scratch, Husk dropping a whole bottle of tequila on the floor in shock while Niffty let out a squeak and scurried to the safety of the kitchen. Alastor's head snapped to Angel's direction with an audible crack, his eyes ablaze with red static.

"...what did you just say?" he demanded, the radio tin gone from his voice.

Vaggie had a blade in each hand and looked on the verge of a panic attack, Charlie looking between Angel and Alastor like someone looking at a bomb and wondering which wire to cut to avoid everyone dying a horrible death.

Angel tipped back the rest of the whiskey and stared Alastor in the eye. " _Prey_ ," he drawled out slowly.

Husk dove under the bar and covered his head with both arms and wings just before Alastor snarled through his teeth, eyes going solid red and antlers extending out, somehow managing to keep some semblance of a smile on his face. 

"YOU HAD BEST RECTIFY YOURSELF, BOY," his voice crackled out like he was speaking through a broken radio, stalking over to Angel.

"No no NO!" Charlie yelped. "STOP it, Alastor, STOP -" She raced over to attempt SOMETHING to stop them, only to have to duck when Angel threw an arm out to punch Alastor across the face and send him sprawling back on the floor.

Alastor spat out a tooth, his grin looking more like a bloodthirsty snarl, the sound of high-pitched changing stations and static almost deafening as he jumped back up with his hands poised to snap something into existence to put Angel down -possibly for good- when Angel Dust lurched over to him, arms splayed out at his sides as he made a piercing high-pitched screeching sound, baring his teeth in a way that made his eyeteeth slide out and drip venom.

Charlie covered her ears, the sound extremely unpleasant and grating, but collected herself to possibly pull the Princess Card to stop it when she noticed that Alastor wasn't retaliating. 

The Radio Demon stood stock-still, staring at Angel with hunched shoulders with his hair uplifts actually flattened back like ears. 

Several moments passed before Alastor seemed to collect himself, standing upright with his image going back to what constituted as normal, averting his eyes from the others as he grinned and cleared his throat, normal radio tin coming back. "...I'll see myself out, thank you," he said, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

Husk peered over his bar, eyes wide with disbelief. "...you gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me."

Vaggie nearly dropped her knives, looking at the closed door and then back to Angel, who had ceased to rear himself up and was glaring at the door with silent thoughtfulness as he gathered the rest of his raw meat and left the room too, eating in satisfied silence.

Niffty peeked out of the kitchen. "Is it over?" she cheeped. 

"I don't fuckin' know anymore," Husk groaned, covering his head with his hands. "I really don't fuckin' know."

Charlie headed over to Vaggie to make sure she was okay, just knowing that this bullshit wasn't going to end anytime soon.

Angel sat in his room that was effectively overhauled to be a huge nest of his belongings, having shoved the gutted body of the lizard demon out the window awhile ago to at least get it out of the way, chewing on the last bit of beef shank he took from the kitchen and still his appetite wasn't sated.

His stomach was full enough, but his blood was on fire with another hunger entirely, and the options he had were so very few. 

The small one, the moth, and the Princess were not his taste. The lizard had been coldblooded. The cat was a brined predator, not fit for anything he wanted.

But the deer. 

Warmblooded, powerful, smelling of game, gunpowder, and rum, was such delicious, promising prey, the only one fit for sating his appetite. 

He let out a low-pitched clicking chitter as he brought two hands to his mouth, taking a deep breath before vomiting out thick strands of sticky web that he began coating his 'nest' with in preparation for bringing his catch back for consumption.

Alastor slammed his door shut, leaning back against it as he let his smile slip from his face. 

Goddamnn it. GodDAMN his real punishment of Hell, stuck in this body that held instincts of the prey animal whose attributes he displayed. 

Instincts that rose up higher than his power could sometimes reach; keeping eyes on people, never turning his back fully to someone,

 _Fearing the_ _predator_

He snarled to himself, wanting so badly to tear his pounding heart out of his chest and scream at it to hunter-up. 

This wasn't going to continue, he told himself, taking a deep breath and forcing the smile back onto his face. 

He was NOT going to submit to Angel -goddamn- Dust of all demons. 

Not now, not ever.


	4. Chapter 4

For the first time in decades, Alastor felt that he needed to be on high alert in his own damn (part-time) home. 

He felt like he was being watched even when he was certain there was nobody there. It didn't help that Angel Dust's sickly-sweet smell was EVERYWHERE in the Hotel, and he swore it was starting to cling to him whenever he had too step outside for some air. Alastor would have gone back to his radio tower by now if Charlie wasn't practically begging him to stay. 

Nine Circles, even VAGGIE was begging him to stay. 

Worst comes to worst, Charlie said, she would allow him to displace Angel Dust somewhere away from people. But so far, Angel Dust had only been acting out when provoked, and she didn't feel right just kicking him out of his home and out into public where ANYONE could invoke that spidery wrath.

So now he was stuck in the Hotel that smelled like musk and sugar syrup with a giant jumping spider/tarantula abomination that was making the deer inside him feel like he was being actively hunted. A ridiculous concept when he thought about it; Angel Dust was a goddamn BUG, for Satan's sake.

It only made the further revelation worse when faced with the knowledge that Angel Dust was at the top of his species' food chain, and Alastor was at the bottom of his.

That there was definite proof that there was a God, and They had a wicked sense of humor.

Alastor kept to his room for the most part, the only place that wasn't saturated with Angel's scent but his nose kept sniffing out the area, eyes flitting to every nook and cranny, ears listening out for anything out of the ordinary. It was impossible to relax in his own space, and it was really putting his teeth on edge.

No matter what the reason for all of this, the moment Angel Dust stopped inciting this damned flight instinct in him, he was going to shove the spider's head into an eldritch hole and leave it there for an hour.

He shrugged off his coat and threw it over his couch, sitting down hard as he rubbed his temples. Angel Dust's scent was beginning to give him a head-swimming migraine, and it didn't help that he could STILL smell it even now. 

_'Note to self, have Niffty bleach EVERYTHING,'_ he thought, nose winkling as he sniffed his shirt sleeve. This week was ruining his demeanor, his appetite, and his very biology. His head was fuzzy, his stomach was queasy, and his blood felt hot, throwing all of his senses out of whack. He needed a nap, he decided, leaning back on the couch with a heavy sigh and closed his eyes.

He just needed some time to gather his thoughts, center himself, and recharge before he left to do it again tomorrow.

Easier said than done when all he could think about when closing his eyes was Angel Dust, recalling the spider looming over him like a rearing beast, screeching at him in a way that made his hair stand on end, fangs dripping with pinkish venom and eyes pitch black with acidic pink glows.

Alastor remembered for a split second wanting to bow his head in submission to the spider, and then white-hot realization of what he'd been about to do.

At that point, killing Angel Dust just to preserve his pride would only cement the damage done to his ego. He had witnesses to all that, after all, and it was only their own fear and confusion with the situation that kept the depth of his own shortcomings with it under life-and-reputation-ruining levels.

Another part of him, smothered down but stubbornly resurfacing now and again, couldn't help but marvel somewhat over the level of intimidation and power Angel Dust had displayed, and had a fleeting thought of what he could do with a power like that on his end of a handshake.

Then the idea of Angel Dust touching him at all hammered that nail back down into the ground. It would take Angel having an hour-long shower with antibacterial soap and two bottles of hand sanitizer before Alastor would consider shaking Angel's hand.

His nose caught another whiff of the spider's scent -possibly from his jacket- and groaned running his hands over his face as the smell made his blood burn again. The sensation made him feel more sensitized and vulnerable, wanting to tear his clothes off and scratch every surface of his skin to make it go away. He compromised with tugging his tie loose and unbuttoning his shirt cuffs, at very least thankful he was in his own space to wait out this hell wrought on his body.

Sighing heavily and relaxing as much as he could with the rest of his senses on high alert, he gave his fingers a small flick to turn a radio nearby on, hoping the familiar sound of soft jazz would make him relax. It did, somewhat, enough for his muscles to loosen and his nose to stop twitching as he listened to the song.

_"I'm gonna spin you up, darlin', in my spider's web..."_

Oh god-fucking-damn it. 

He gave up, letting the song go on as he slumped back, the words slurring in his mind as the migraine's actual pain lifted and instead left him feeling muddled and sleepy, like a warm cloth had been draped over his head. The warmth trickled down over the rest of his body, easing out his tense frame little by little, down to his insides that made the heat in his blood spread out into an almost pleasant simmer.

More than pleasant, actually, it was almost pleasurable like a hands-free caress over his skin; borderline arousing.

The fact that he hadn't been aroused since he strangled another overlord to unconsciousness before devouring him years ago didn't occur to him until he found that when he went to unfasten his clothing a bit more, he felt far too sluggish to move as the warmth dripped to his head and spread out again like a shot of drugs to his system.

....red flag.

He almost had to struggle to bring himself out of his mental blanket, noticing a small drip of wetness trickling down his forehead, the drop a heavy, thick warm spot that almost numbed his skin. He forced his eyes open, finding himself wondering what was making the drip of something like this, and unable to move his head, simply lifted his eyes.

Alastor was able to make out a large, almost-invisible eight-limbed form in the corner where his couch was situated, two pinpricks of pink staring down at him as droplets dripped down from two large protruding fangs.

 _'Huh,'_ his drugged brain managed to think, _'that's a big spider.'_

Finally, it clicked.

"Oh, _MERDE_ -!"

He had no time to react as the spider dropped down.

Charlie sighed heavily in her office, at her wit's end by this point.

The promising expansion of her Hotel had gone out the window because of Angel Dust's issues, and now her coworkers were having collective issues that she wasn't for some reason. It was worrying to a point where she remembered Valentino's parting words from his call, wondering if the overlord knew anything about this.

Oh who was she kidding, he definitely did.

 _'Note to self, get the FULL rundown of patrons before they have extended stay,'_ she thought, sighing as she pulled out Angel's file and flipped through it for some clues. Nothing but what she already knew, with his hypersexuality, weakness to drugs, and borderline dependent nature. Absolutely nothing on this newest bit, unfortunately.

She sighed, flipping through his file to the front and finding a few emergency contact numbers, first of which being Valentino's. Yeah, screw that. She found another one, grimacing when she saw that it was for Cherri Bomb, Angel's best friend and second-worst enabler.

Whatever, she needed answers and she wasn't about to call Val for it.

Charlie dialed up the number, hoping it was current, and sat back in her chair as she listened to it ring a few times. Finally it was answered with loud 80s power rock music playing in the background.

_"Yeah, who are you and what do ya need blown th' fuck up?"_

Yep, this was Cherri. "Hi, this is Charlie, I'm calling for -"

_"Speak up, can't hear ya!"_

"This is Charlie!" Charlie said louder. "I'm calling for Cherri?"

_"Yeah, who wants to know?"_

Charlie sighed before raising her voice again. "This is Charlie, from the Hotel?"

_"Not interested, Princess Creampuff!"_

"For fuck's sake -IT'S ABOUT ANGEL!"

The music on the other end clicked out. _"What about him?"_ Cherri asked, her voice sounding a bit more serious. _"He's over at Val's isn't he? It's spring."_ She said it like it was obvious, and Charlie sighed with relief; seems she would know about all of this after all.

"No, he's here," Charlie replied. "And I called to ask some questions about -"

_"It's th' fifth spring, so yeah, he's goin' aggro on ya asses, isn't he?"_

Charlie blinked. "Huh?"

On the other end, Cherri scoffed and it sounded like she was sipping a soda. _"Figures he wouldn't tell you, the dramatic ho. Okay so check it, Angie's like...the pink sheep of his family, him and Molly, right, but whatevs, Molly isn't like him. You've seen what Big Daddy looks like, right?"_

"...I'm afraid to ask."

_"Ha, yeah, he hates it when I call his dad Big Daddy, but seriously, the guy is a DADDY of a tarantula, kinda quiet aggro, you know the type?"_

"Um-"

_"So anyway, you wouldn't know the two were related unless you've seen 'em both mad. But yeah-"_

Charlie rubbed her temple, wondering if Cherri had snorted anything before she called. 

_"-about once every five years over th' winter, Angie starts storing up some Big Daddy vibes of his own and his tarantula biz comes out. You know, gets really hangry and aggressive, staking territory an' all that. But since tarantulas are mostly chill unless they're tryin' to mate, that just makes things easier to figure out."_

Charlie pulled the phone away to stare at it. "....mate?"

_"Yeah, he's a male tarantula...well, half, he's mostly a jumping spider, I'm GUESSING that's to do with his mom, but I'm like, pretty sure she's in Heaven-"_

"Cherri, focus. WHAT about all of this? Why would he be with Val?"

 _"Are you KIDDING?"_ Cherri laughed. _"You know how many freaks would pay to be dominated by Angel like that? Honey, if you wanna see what storm is coming for you guys, check out th' movie 'Stalking the Night', and educate yourself. I'm actually surprised nothing's been DONE this late in th' game!"_

"What do you mean-"

_"Hey, I gotta go, you take care and have Angel call me when he's done with you guys!"_

"Wait-!"

 _"Later, babe!"_ Click.

Charlie put the phone back on the hook, sitting back worriedly before chewing her lip and opening her laptop, making a very tentative search for the 'movie' Cherri had suggested. 

And of course it had to be a porno. Of COURSE.

"What are you doing, Charlie?"

Charlie jumped, blushing when Vaggie walked over. "...it's not what it looks like?" she ventured. Vaggie peered at the screen, grimacing.

"Shit, I hope not," she replied with disgust. "But WHY?"

Charlie sighed and recanted what Cherri had told her. "...she told me to check this out to get a cue on what we 'should expect'. I'm still kind of scared to press play."

Vaggie rolled her eye and sat down next to her. "As gross at it is, if it'll help..." she said hesitantly. Charlie nodded and pressed play.

"I'll have to give credit where it's due," Vaggie muttered. "Camera work isn't terrible, and even Angel couldn't be that shitty of an actor."

"He's gotta be a guest star then," Charlie guessed. 

"What the hell has our lives come to when we're holed up in the office, hiding from Angel Dust, watching one of his pornos?" Vaggie asked, rubbing her face. "I mean, I know Hell isn't supposed to be fun, but STILL..."

"Shush, Angel's coming on!" Charlie hissed, watching on with wide eyes at Angel Dust's appearance, seeing him as she had witnessed him before; taller, a lot furrier, and in a perpetual pissy mood. In his opening scene, he was crawling over a wall toward the movie's 'victim' in a way that really didn't seem like acting at all. 

Why was it far too late that she remembered the kind of person Valentino was, and that unscripted scenes were DEFINITELY in the overlord's repertoire, just as Angel spat out a splash of venom from his fangs into the other demon's eyes before pouncing.

The girls watched in horror for about twenty more seconds before Vaggie threw the laptop the the floor and stabbed it with her spear. Several times.

When she was done, she looked up at Charlie, pale. "...we have to get Angel Dust out of this Hotel."


	5. Chapter 5

Alastor's eyes cracked open with a wince, his head feeling like it was being crushed in a vice along with the rest of him. Oh, this was not good, he thought to himself, shifting a little to reach up and rub his head. His whole body felt heavy and sluggish, not unlike the first time he woke up in this afterlife, and tried to remember what got him here in the first place.

He put down a hand to support himself in sitting up and felt an unpleasant tacky stickiness where he was laying. Oh Circles, what was he lying in, he thought, looking around at where he was.

It looked like a big enclosed pile of furniture shoved and piled together, stuck together with thick pinkish-white sticky sheets of...something. He grimaced, pulling himself up from the stickiness with some difficulty though bits of the sheets stuck to him in thick threads almost like

...spider webbing.

The blurred memory of what happened before he blacked out had him sitting up fast enough to almost put him right back down with the hard discombobulation that crashed into him, and there was no surface around him that wasn't sticky that he could use to brace himself with. 

Angel -fucking- Dust was going to be a stain on the floor by the time he was done with him, Alastor thought darkly, turning around to attempt crawling out of the enclosed area he was in, having to actually fight with his own body to move his limbs that felt like they were weighed down with a hundred extra pounds per inch. The stickiness of the surface he was on doubled that effort and his disorientation tripled it, pulling himself forward and peering out into Angel's room.

It looked like everything the spider owned was piled into this heap, making a nest of sorts. That didn't bode well, and Alastor would be god-and-devil DAMNED if he was going to meet his ironic end being eaten by an eight-limbed prostitute. He pulled himself forward toward the end of the bed where the nest ended, teeth gritting tightly with effort.

"Goin' somewhere, Al?"

It took him a moment to register that he was being spoken to, and looked around with his blurred vision before realizing that the voice had come from ABOVE, and looked up.

Angel was hanging upside-down from his ceiling, two of his three pairs of arms crossed with the third pair holding onto a string of webbing, all eight of his eyes black with pink pinpricks locked onto him. Alastor glowered up at the spider, trying to summon up something to tear him limb from limb, but nothing happened. Unsurprising, considering the strong mental focus he had to have in order to channel such a thing from happening. Wishful thinking was all he had at the moment.

"...you...are dead when I'm able to think straight..." he slurred out, static crackling in his voice. Angel made a low clicking sound, descending from the ceiling by the thread keeping eye contact with Alastor and arching his body to be face-to-face. 

"Then I'd best keep ya outta yer mind, huh?" Angel purred, using his top set of hands to hold Alastor's face, the rest of his body lowering to the bed. He kept a hold on Alastor's face when the other attempted to pull away. "Do you even know how delicious you smell, Al?" Saliva beaded in the corners of his mouth. "I just wanna eat you right up, baby."

Alastor bared his teeth, eyes glowing with a flickering light. "I wouldn't give you the satisfaction," he hissed. 

Angel laughed, his fangs glinting dangerously in the dim light. "Maybe not," he said, then leaned in closer, enough that Alastor could smell blood and sugar on the spider's breath. "But I can give YOU th' satisfaction."

Alastor didn't have time to process what could mean before Angel ducked his head down and bit down into Alastor's neck, injecting venom into him. Alastor hissed at the bite, digging his claws into the other's shoulders and shoving him back with all the strength he could muster. Angel let him, his fangs bloody from the bite and mixing in with the pinkish venom, leaning back as he laughed at Alastor reaching up to rub his neck like it would disinfect itself.

Absolutely disgusting, Alastor hissed to himself, resisting the urge to claw his neck wide open. It hadn't actually hurt, but now the bite was starting to sting and burn. 

...it was making his whole BODY burn, like he felt back in his room but WORSE. 

His head began swimming harder, the deadened nerves in his body now blazing alive and making him hyperaware of every sensation. He almost doubled over at the sudden heat in his body, his clothes just exacerbating his discomfort. His claws tore at them as his breath quickened in a near-panic.

Angel's hand sliding to the back of his head and pulling his face forward into a fluffy chest almost made him feel smothered until he inhaled in reflex to breathe and smelled Angel's musk-and-sugar scent. What he originally found nauseating from its heaviness, he now suddenly felt like he couldn't get enough of it. It was comforting and euphoric at the same time, mellowing out the heat that was pulsing in his body with every beat of his black heart.

And that was very, VERY much of a red flag for Alastor's experience.

He pressed his hands against Angel's chest, pushing back from the spider with as much control as he could build up, growling. "What did you do to me?" he spat. Angel made that chittering sound that made Alastor's bones from antlers to tailbone and reached out to hook his clawed finger under Alastor's collar and rip down, severing the shirt in two with one swipe. 

"I gave ya th' Angel Dust Special," Angel replied, pushing Alastor onto his back with a shoving poke of his finger. "Never had a complaint about it before, don't plan on it anytime soon." He hooked his finger under the hem of Alastor's pants, the front getting the same treatment as the deer's shirt.

The air on his exposed skin made Alastor's skin prickle, something that wasn't helped by Angel leaning over him close enough for his fur to brush his bare skin. He opened his mouth to demand that Angel do something comparable to diving headfirst into a dumpster fire, but that vein of thought was interrupted with a hot mouth over his own. Blood, sugar, and acid coated his tongue in an intoxicating cocktail, the sudden taste leaving him almost salivating for more. 

By the time Angel pulled back, Alastor found his pants completely shredded off and himself completely aroused. 

The red flag was crimson, and Alastor couldn't decide between wanting to run from the red flag or wave it around. Angel Dust nuzzling down his body and between his legs made that decision for him, letting out an embarrassingly cervine yelp when he felt mouth, tongue, and teeth over his cock.

His hands found themselves clenching tightly into fur and hair, the fire in his body blazing almost painfully as he hissed through his teeth, recalling against his will,

_"And what can you do, my effeminate fellow?"_

_"I can suck your dick."_

Oh, Angel wasn't wrong, he COULD.

Why had he declined the offer again when it felt this good?

Claws stuck into the tacky webbing on the bed when he felt a curling around him twice over, suddenly getting the realization that Angel's tongue was apparently prehensile. 

That revelation should not have been as arousing as his body made it out to be. 

He pulled at Angel's hair harder, feeling the tongue around him flex harder, teeth scraping against him, lips sucking just so, bringing him closer orgasm but not quite there, the FUCKING TEASE -

Alastor almost snarled when lips, teeth, and tongue vanished just when he was so close, sitting up and growling at Angel with his antlers extending a couple inches and static crackling in his aura. "FINISH IT, SPIDER!" he snapped, only to have Angel snatch one of his antlers and jerk at it hard enough to really hurt.

"Mind yer tone, FAWN," Angel hissed back mockingly, leaning in to kiss and scrape his fangs over Alastor's neck before turning Alastor onto his front, doing the same to his shoulders and back. His claws pressed into Alastor's skin as he pulled the deer's hips back, smiling against his shoulder. "A tail, Al? How cute."

Alastor growled louder, some part of him praying he remembered to crush Angel's teeth in and tear out his tongue when this was over to keep that tidbit a secret. He felt Angel's smile against his back, trailing further down to the base of his tail. Oh, if that goddamn spider did what he thought he was going to do -

He let out another yelp when Angel licked and nipped at his tail, fur and all, slamming his clenched fists into the bed in an effort to muffle more undignified cries. Angel made sure no inch of his tail went untouched before his mouth trailed lower.

....oh hell no-

Angel pulled his hips higher and shoved his tongue into him, making good use of the prehensile nature to make Alastor have to bite into his own arm to keep from screaming. Or moaning. Or both. He tasted blood as his hips jerked hard despite being held tightly in place by Angel, feeling blood trickle down his thighs from the spider's claws. 

He wouldn't scream he wouldn't beg he wouldn't give any sign of satisfaction -

The feeling of Angel's tongue leaving him pulled him back to the present, but gave him a chance to catch his breath and attempt to regain some sense of control in all of this. He took his teeth out of his arm and pushed himself up only to be grabbed by the shoulder and flipped to his back, Angel looming over him and straddling his hips. 

"Y'know what happens when a spider ain't satisfied, Al?" he purred, digging his claws into Alastor's shoulders, rocking his hips back on Alastor's erection, his fangs gleaming dangerously. "Or do ya wanna find out?"

Alastor glowered up at him, unable to move anywhere with claws dug into him and thighs and two other sets of arms on either side of him. "I know what's going to happen when all of this is over," he replied, giving Angel his nastiest smile. Angel returned it, lifting his hips and reaching down to position Alastor under him. 

"Y'do, Al?" He grinned, pressing down against Alastor. "Y'know what happens when a spider an' a deer fuck each other very much?"

"Disgusting degenerate," Alastor hissed, managing to get his claws into Angel's thighs, digging in and tearing, which did nothing but seem to excite the spider, who laughed and pushed down on Alastor while letting out more spine-crawling chittering clicks.

"Oh, don't stop with th' dirty talk, Al, that's doin' it for me...!" Angel said, settling fully on Alastor, his breathing excited and expression hungry. "C'mon, what're you gonna do to me later?"

"Get off!"

"Oh, that's a given," Angel purred, rolling his hips hard. "I'll get ya off, Al, don't you worry." He leaned down, fangs dripping as he kissed Alastor hard, biting Alastor's lip to inject another hit of his aphrodisiac venom. Alastor growled and clawed over Angel's thighs, drawing blood and staining the web-covered sheets, the effects not as harsh as they had been before but still enough for his body to be set on fire again.

Alastor dropped his head back groaning when another wave of pleasure rippled through him from the inside out. The tight heat around his cock and how to best utilize it to orgasm became the central point of his attention, the only thing that mattered right at that minute, jerking his hips up hard in a bid to make it happen. Angel took full advantage of the moment, working himself on Alastor fast with each set of hands gripping Alastor somewhere to keep him in place.

Red claws pierced and tore through Angel's thighs, sides, back, taking out clumps of bloody fur that only seemed to egg Angel on further, the spider hissing and crooning out teasing urging for Alastor to tear, claw, bite, just _lose control_ entirely.

And goddamn him, it was working.

Alastor's horns expanded out again, teeth snapping at Angel's throat when the spider leaned just out of biting range like dangling rock salt in front of a deer. Angel laughed when Alastor's teeth graced his skin and threw the deer a bone, pressing his body down to Alastor's and immediately finding jaws tearing into his neck with no intention on letting go, the sensation making him cum almost instantly.

His momentary lapse in concentration had Alastor tearing his claws up to the first knuckle into Angel's sides giving him just enough hold to wrench Angel to the side and onto his back. Alastor let go of Angel's neck, his eyes almost coated in red and black static as he stared down at the bloodied, clicking spider and feeling that he wouldn't be satisfied until he painted this grey spider red.

That thought almost made him throb inside of Angel, his hips bucking to the other's roughly as he parted his jaws for another bite to go in for the kill -

Angel's door being kicked open and Charlie tossing in a canister with a demon-grade knockout gas left both of the male demons too stunned -and somewhat blissed out- to properly react before the gas too effect, both being too mentally and biologically vulnerable to put up too much a fight. In moments, both of them were slumped on the bed and out cold.

"NOW are you glad your dad wouldn't let you open this place without a few of those?" Vaggie asked pointedly, having been privy to the conversation Charlie had with Lucifer about a demon's unpredictable nature and how good intentions meant shit if they got pissy enough.

Charlie blushed. "...yeah," she conceded, counting out five minutes before carefully venturing into the room that still smelled like knockout gas, walking up to Angel's bed-nest with a wince. "I don't think we were too late, they're both still alive."

"Last time I hope for anything good," Vaggie grumbled, pulling on some thick gloves before helping Charlie separate the two males, cringing hard as she tried not to look. "Oh jeezus fuck this is gross..."

"You wanna trade Angel for Al then?" Charlie asked, trying to maneuver Alastor around without being pierced by the deer's sharp antlers. 

"PLEASE, he still reeks to Heaven," Vaggie complained, swapping out and pulling Alastor off of Angel's bed with some difficulty; the skinny asshole was a lot more solid than he looked, and the bed was covered in tacky webbing. "...holy shit."

"What?" Charlie asked, keeping mindful of Angel's open wounds. 

"He has a tail."

"A what?"

"A fucking TAIL, Charlie, Alastor has a fucking DEER TAIL!"

Charlie blushed as she ventured a peek. "...oh wow." She shook her head, finding an unwebbed sheet and wrapping it around Angel's bleeding body. "Look, let's just get Al to his room. I'll call Cherri to take Angel to Valentino's for the rest of whenever this stupid thing is over with."

Vaggie nodded, waiting for Charlie to finish cocooning Angel Dust with the sheet before co-carrying Alastor out to his room. "Ugh, it's like dragging your drunk asshole friend home..."

"I WISH he was drunk," Charlie muttered, fumbling with the lock before pushing the door open and grimacing at the bayou. "Oh shit, I turned it left instead of right -"

"Who gives a fuck, just put him down before he wakes up!" Vaggie hissed. "We don't know how well that shit works on an overlord!"

Charlie sighed and settled Alastor down on a clear patch of grass, watching as he curled up on himself like a deer would, not bothered at all by the atmosphere he was in. "...he should not be this precious."

Vaggie made a noncommittal sound, snapping a picture with her hellphone, tail and all. "You'd think, no."

"Vaggie!"

"Hey, he's got his asshole moments, I have mine. Now let's go make sure Angel won't be a problem."

Charlie sighed, then headed back out and shut the door behind her to make that call to Cherri, praying to whoever was listening that this whole fiasco would be over soon.


	6. Chapter 6

If Alastor recalled anything from what happened, he didn't give any indication the next time Charlie saw him, and she gave no indication that she knew anything about anything in return. Best to not look a gift deer in the mouth and pray for some normalcy.

Cherri came to drag Angel Dust's unconscious carcass to Valentino's, and they said nothing as she laughed about the whole thing and begged for details later. 

Not for all the funding in the world, Charlie thought, getting the okay from Husk to weather out the lingering cold to open up the windows and air out the apparent scent of Angel Dust out of the Hotel. Some time later, Alastor came out of his room, no worse for wear, remarked cheerfully on the warming weather and the spring cleaning Niffty was doing. No one said a word, and just tried to go on as normally as possible.

A week and a half later was when Niffty popped into the lobby saying that Angel Dust had arrived back via car, and everyone went on immediate defensive for the long moment it took for the front door to be thrown open.

"UGH, I HATE the winter!" Angel whined, smoothing down his excessive fluff that had once again returned to white and pale pink. "Niffty, I'm sorry, but I am going to be shedding for WEEKS until this is over!" As he rubbed his head, he indeed had some fur falling off. He seemed to not notice everyone's looks of near-fear and trepidation, walking over to the bar and sitting down, batting his eyes at Husk. "Heyyyy Husky, mind gettin' me a cosmo, babe?"

Husk looked torn between throwing a drink into Angel's face from being called 'Husky' again, and relief that Angel was back to a level of normal enough to call him that in the first place. He decided down the path of less migraine and began making up a cranberry cosmo for Angel, grumbling to himself.

"How are you feeling, Angel?" Charlie asked, giving him a cautious smile. Angel sighed dramatically, draping himself over the bar.

"Like absolute SHIT," he huffed. "I can't do a THING with my fur, I have a cold migraine, and I need like ALL the sugar we have in here." He flicked another few strands of fur off of his fingers. "Hibernation sucks, y'know what I'm sayin'?"

Charlie gave him her best forced smile. "Absolutely," she said. "So...what, uh...what did you do for...about a month...?" 

"The fuck do you think 'hibernation' means?" Angel tanked back his drink. "I slept. Might've gotten up t' eat at some point. I dunno. We got any candy around here?"

Charlie gestured for Vaggie to go get the sugary food that was still packed away before letting out a sigh. "Well, it's good to have you back, Angel." 

Angel grunted in reply and rubbed at his head to let more fur fall to the floor, finishing his cosmo just as Alastor walked down into the room. 

Husk froze, eyes darting between Angel and Alastor with his fight-or-flight instincts on Code Red. Angel didn't bother looking up from his drink and a hand shot out to grab the sweets that Vaggie had just brought in. Alastor paused when he saw Angel at the bar, but then carried on walking to get some coffee. 

"Angel Dust, I see you've returned," he said, pouring himself a cup. "And the Hotel was so quiet without you."

"Aww, I know y'missed me, Al," Angel grinned before shoving a large sugar cookie into his mouth. "This place would be so fuckin' dull without me."

"Oh what a shame that would be."

Angel grabbed the rest of the sweets and stood up, throwing back the rest of his drink. "I'm gonna go upstairs for awhile to brush out, don't bother me." He headed out of the bar and upstairs, missing everyone else sans Alastor let out breaths they barely knew they were holding.

"Oh man, what a mess..." Vaggie muttered, rubbing her temples. 

"Let's just be thankful he's not...like that," Charlie said, gesturing lightly. "...are you okay, Al?"

Alastor sipped his coffee, smiling. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" he asked.

"...no reason." 

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY ROOM!?"

Charlie winced at Angel's shrill scream, hurrying out of the bar. "It was another guest, he was properly dealt with, I promise, Angel -!"

Husk put his head on the bar and prayed for another death.

Things were as normal as they could be in the Hotel, of which Charlie was immensely thankful for. Even so, she and Vaggie kept running interception between Angel and Alastor just in case, which was more trouble than it was worth but not nearly as much trouble as either of them recalling something could be.

Alastor knew that the ladies were up to something that had to do with Angel Dust, but for the life of him he couldn't quite pin what or why. 

He would be the first to admit that Angel Dust's particular scent from before was doing something strange to his own biology and making him act somewhat erratically and uncouth for his status. Waking up in his bayou mostly naked with no real recollection as to WHY was something he really didn't want to dwell on, but at least when he heard that Angel Dust has been sent off to Valentino's until this whole matter was resolved, there was a heavy blanket of relief over him.

But even so, there was a certain amount of unexplained unsatisfactory feeling he was having and nothing that he could come up with to justify such feelings. And when Angel Dust returned, the dissatisfaction reemerged with a vengeance. 

Being around the spider put a heat in his blood that was like anger and frustration and animalistic need to TEAR and DEVOUR without rhyme or reason. He would look at Angel and get flashes of black eyes staring at him, teeth biting him, claws digging into his skin, and Alastor would want to fight back to an opponent that wasn't even there.

And it kept EATING at him.

It got to the point where even times where Angel was nowhere to be seen, he had sudden flashes of those urges that he almost couldn't shake entirely even while around other people. It got especially bad when Angel came back from a day out and smelled like another overlord.

It nearly sent Alastor into a fit at the olfactory overload, and quickly excused himself to the empty hall where his room was, reaching up to scratch his itching antlers.

Had they grown a little? Strange. Strange and ANNOYING. He scratched them harder, even going so far as to nudge them against the wall before collecting himself and stalking to his bayou, hoping that calming familiarity would temper this behavior down.

It didn't.

Angel Dust huffed as he walked down the hallway with a large roll of sticky tape, occasionally plucking up a few white hairs here and there. Charlie had sent him off to clean up after himself after Niffty nearly had an aneurysm earlier that day from his constant shedding. Fair enough, maybe, but couldn't the little gremlin have waited one more day for a breakdown? He'd JUST finished his final shedding and was back to his glossy beautiful self at last.

And now he had to spend his first day shed-free inside cleaning instead of outside. COMPLETELY unfair. 

He groused to himself, figuring that if he did this quickly enough then Charlie would throw him a bone and let him go out to a bar with Cherri later that night.

Anything to get him out of the Hotel, especially with the damn Radio Demon acting so weird. Seriously, what crawled up the deer's asshole and died to make him so twitchy, and screeching out that godawful feedback sound at random? Angel's personal theory was that he needed to get laid, but just the PRE-MENTION of that had Charlie, Vaggie, and Husk almost diving on him to shut up.

He finished the hallway before turning to head back down, and frowned when he saw that the lights had suddenly gone dim. Jeezus fuck, if Alastor was going to be a backer, the least the asshole could do was get the electricity fixed. He rolled his eyes and made his way to the stairwell but froze when he heard soft cracking behind him in the darkness.

"...the fuck?" he muttered, turning around and seeing nothing but blackness and another beat of silence.

Then he heard static and twin red glowing dials flickering into existence. The hallway became saturated with the sound of crackling static and the smell of musk and rum as the dials came closer, Angel beginning to make out a familiar form of Alastor's face, impossibly-wide sharp grin and all, only it was MUCH higher up than Alastor was tall. Angel took a step back as Alastor stepped forward, enough that in the dim light Angel could see that Alastor's body had split and contorted into something disgustingly horrific.

Alastor looked almost normal save for the excessively-manic grin and his antlers that had expanded out into an easy fourteen-point, his torso bare and and nearly emaciated-looking. His arms were unnaturally long and spindly, the skin blackening just past the elbows and ending with blood-red claws. Below his torso was a nightmare, making it look like Alastor was emerging from a huge deer's head and neck that was split in two, making him look like a demented hell-deer centaur.

Angel stared at the abomination, a loss for words as Alastor stalked forward, hooves sounding like someone stepping on broken glass with heels, his dial-shaped pupils honing in on Angel hungrily. Angel took two steps back with each step forward, Alastor's look telling him to RUN while the deer's scent was telling him to STAY PUT. "...Al?" he ventured, trying to ignore the heat in his body that was dropping right to his groin from the scent. Goddamn it not NOW. 

Alastor somehow grinned wider, saliva dripping from between his teeth as he parted his jaws and licked his lips before speaking.

"O͏H̕,͏ ̡A̛N͏G҉EL~"

Angel's scream was cut off before anyone else in the Hotel could really register what it was as he vanished from the hallway.

**BONUS!**

Angel stumbled into the bar on shaking legs, his expression exhausted, terrified, and third eye pried wide open with a crowbar from having seen things he never should have ever. Husk looked up from his spot, arching a brow. "The fuck you been?" he demanded. "You vanish for three days an' send Princess into a panic without so much as a word -"

"No," Angel said, two hands gripping the bar, another bracing up on a bar stool with a fourth covering his face. "...shut up. Give alcohol. Any alcohol." 

Normally Husk would have told Angel to go fuck himself, but the spider looked fucked up enough, and wordlessly handed over a bottle of vodka that Angel grabbed and began chugging like a dying man in the desert, finishing over half before slamming it down with the haunted look still in his eye. Angel took several deep breaths before hoisting up and sitting back gingerly on the bar stool, his hand still clenched tightly over the bottle.

"...you wanna share what's goin' on with th' rest of th' class?" Husk asked. 

"No."

"Okay..." Husk turned away, going back to the book he'd been reading when the doors opened again and Alastor strolled in, looking no better than Angel. Even his smile was shaky and strained and...

...shit, was that SHAME? 

"Husk, my good friend, whiskey please," he said almost tiredly, sitting on the other end of the bar Angel was at, pointedly not looking at the spider. Husk gave him an odd look but complied, sliding over a bottle of whiskey and a tumbler for it, only for Alastor to grab the bottle and tank it back.

Husk looked between them, frowning. "...seriously, what crawled up your asses?"

Both of them spewed out their respective drinks, followed by Angel burying his head under two of his arms while Alastor pinched the bridge of his nose and took several deep, centering breaths to keep his goddamn smile on his goddamn face, goddamnit.

"...I think I'll take a day off at my radio tower," Alastor said, sliding off of his stool and walking out of the bar, his cheeks most definitely red, Husk would later swear to any deity who asked. Husk watched him leave before turning to Angel, who hadn't moved at all. 

"...what the FUCK happened the past three days!?"

Angel just screeched into the bar surface as an answer. Husk threw his hands up and grabbed his book to go read somewhere else in peace.

Seriously, he thought, fuck winter. Nothing but problems.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hella good fanart by the heckin' talented Winekita on tumblr! It deserved its own chapter, it's so good!

_Alastor looked almost normal save for the excessively-manic grin and his antlers that had expanded out into an easy fourteen-point, his torso bare and and nearly emaciated-looking. His arms were unnaturally long and spindly, the skin blackening just past the elbows and ending with blood-red claws. Below his torso was a nightmare, making it look like Alastor was emerging from a huge deer's head and neck that was split in two, making him look like a demented hell-deer centaur._

_Angel stared at the abomination, a loss for words as Alastor stalked forward, hooves sounding like someone stepping on broken glass with heels, his dial-shaped pupils honing in on Angel hungrily. Angel took two steps back with each step forward, Alastor's look telling him to RUN while the deer's scent was telling him to STAY PUT. "...Al?" he ventured, trying to ignore the heat in his body that was dropping right to his groin from the scent. Goddamn it not NOW._

_Alastor somehow grinned wider, saliva dripping from between his teeth as he parted his jaws and licked his lips before speaking._

_"O͏H̕,͏ ̡A̛N͏G҉EL~"_


End file.
